THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE | AD WATCH

Progress for America Voter Fund

Sponsor: Progress for America Voter Fund, a pro-Republican group. This 30-second television commercial debuted in Albuquerque on Thursday. It also is expected to air in Nevada.

Script: Male narrator: "9/11. A leader showed strength and compassion. President Bush. He held us together and began to hunt down terrorist killers. But what if Bush wasn't there? Could John Kerry have shown this leadership? The Kerry who voted against billions for America's intelligence even after the first World Trade Center bombing. The Kerry who voted against 13 weapons systems our troops depend on. President Bush will win this war on terror. Progress for America Voter Fund is responsible for the content of this ad."

Images: The ad opens with a picture of wreckage of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It shifts to pictures of Bush visiting firefighters near ground zero and meeting with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other aides. Then Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, Bush's presumed Democratic challenger, is shown in various poses. Then Bush is shown against a backdrop of American flags.

Analysis: The commercial is one of the first counterattacks from a Republican-leaning 527. Such groups are named for the section of the U.S. tax code regulating them, and operate independently of the major political parties and their presidential candidates. As a result, federal limits on donations do not apply to the groups, and they can receive six- and seven-figure checks from donors. Democratic 527s have been attacking Bush over the airwaves for several months without a comparable GOP response. Republicans had contended the Democratic 527s were breaking federal election law. But recently, the Federal Election Commission declined to rein in the groups' activities. This ad seeks to portray Bush as a strong leader against terrorism, while questioning how Kerry would handle that responsibility. It recycles charges about Kerry's Senate record that the Bush campaign has used in its advertising. The Kerry campaign has replied that the criticisms are misleading and that he has consistently supported sufficient funding for national defense and intelligence gathering.